#ReclaimMLK proves that Martin Luther King was much more than just a dream 

The #ReclaimMLK campaign, inaugurated by the founders of Black Lives Matter, aims to remind the world that the slain civil rights leader was far more than the voice behind the famous “I Have a Dream” speech delivered in Washington in 1963. Born out of a fear that King’s memory has become a sanitized version of the historical person, the #ReclaimMLK campaign dedicated the five days between King’s birthday (Jan. 15) and today’s federal holiday to acts of civil disobedience in his name. 

The #ReclaimMLK campaign exists to shatter the white-bred illusions that have, as Selma director Ava DuVernay put it, “reduced [King] to a catchphrase, four words: ‘I have a dream.’”

This MLK Day I remember not the “sanitized,” white washed, hollowed out version of King that white people have turned into a puppet of white supremacy. Instead, the King I remember and give homage to today was the radical anti-capitalist who led the Poor People’s Campaign before his murder. I remember the anti-imperialist who worked with Thich Nhat Hanh and called the US government the “greatest purveyor of violence” on Earth, and forcefully condemned the War in Vietnam. I remember a King who NEVER condemned rioting as a form of resistance because he understood that using non-violence only worked in certain contexts and was just one tactic of many in dismantling white supremacy. And I remember the King who was one of the most hated men in white America on the eve of his death and who was assassinated by the US government for his radical anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and anti-white supremacist message. We must ‪#‎ReclaimMLK‬ today and in the process ‪#‎ReclaimOURstory‬ as well.

Happy Birthday.

Thank you for everything.

Martin Luther King Jr.
(Salute part 1)